Spore is supposed to be a long lived game. It's the kind of game that, when my internet goes down and I can't play WoW until it comes back up, I'll want to get in some Spore time - much as I do with other very long lived games, like Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Master of Magic, and GalCiv2. These games go a long time - sometimes months or even years - unplayed on my hard drive, then I just pick them up and play them some more. Since Spore copy protection is going to make this impossible, I won't bother to buy or play the game.

Mass Effect is more likely to be a "Play. Enjoy. Shelve forever." type of game, so the DRM scheme won't interfere so much. On the other hand, I have an Xbox 360 I can play Mass Effect on, so I'm not likely to waste money on a PC game with horribly invasive DRM when I can just get the console version. Consoles do DRM the right way - built into the machine, and incapable of interfering with its other functions because they don't *HAVE* any other functions. Hopefully the drive to integrate more functions into game consoles won't break the appliance-ization of videogaming that consoles have allowed.

I found a flaw. I know people that play games on their computer and don't have the internet. This'll suck for them since in order to play mass effect they'll need the internet?

At least once every 10 days, yes. And how about all the guys and gals in military service deployed overseas without access to regular internet? They're SOL as well.

Hurray bioware/EA

you have just lost another customer.

It really surprises me that so many companies are so intent at viewing piracy as a legal, or even military, challenge, that they never think to view it as an economic challenge. They're all so busy fighting the good fight that they ignore the obvious truth of the situation: Pirates are competitors. You can't stop them, they're not going away, so we all just need to learn how to work around them.

The best way to achieve this is to make purchasing the legit copy of the game more attractive than downloading the questionable Russian bootleg you found on Google. Now, you certainly can't beat the pirates on price, so you need to try other options. Having some kind of official support other than the Drengi Call Center of Doom helps a lot, as does having a digital distribution system that is faster and more convenient than searching for torrents. Surprisingly, infecting 100% of your game's legit copies with buggy DRM malware does not help, probably because this makes the pirate version look safer.

Way to go Jalicos... I have to agree. and just think of it... drm makes people believe a pirated copy of some russian server, cracked by god knows who, is safer than a legit copy. But again for th lost revenue. Say I'm in a nostalgic mood, and just watched an old Disney movie ad now want to play a little battleship like that Treasure Planet game. So I'd get a pirated copy, play for like 20minutes (hell it's crap for longer) and delete it again. I certainly wouldn't have paid 50 bucks for that shitload of a game to own, and therefore not have bought it if i had to. So how is that lost revenue? I'd rather say making a shitty low-cost game no-one wants to play is lost revenue and time better spent elsewhere, unless you want to milk those five morons who bought it. So on with it. And for the great support, the great game, and whatnot,of SINS I gladly give my money away. As easily as it would be for Spore to employ the exact!!! same auth like Sins to receive pollinated content and publish online, as that is the great deal of that game (much like the online play of Sins, I mean how long do you like to battle a dumbwitted PC? It's good to have a Skirmish option, but COME ON!) AND THREE INSTALLS AND THAN I HAVE TO MOVE HEAVEN AND HELL TO GET PLAY SOMETHING I PAID A LOT OF MONEY!?!?! What's that? So that's one copy on my Laptop, one on my desktop, and should I ever have to change the hardware for my desktop (something that NEVER happens in the ever changing pc hardware market.... ) that's it. (So much for EA for planning to expand Spore's lifetime to 10 years... lots of phoning to to I guess.... perhaps in ten years i will sue EA for my Internet and Phone costs)

Bravo, Jalicos. With copy protection working as poorly as it apparently has been, I have to wonder why game companies continue to think that adding more of it is the solution? I just bought Sins tonight after reading such great reviews of it and I'm pleased at all I get for my money. Although, I have to comment about the fact that manual says two players can play over a LAN with the same CD key and the EULA seems to contradict that.

Going along with what Jalicos said, I'm afraid that with the introduction of copy protection, the games industry itself has added to the problem. The fact is, there exists a better version of every game ever made; a "legit" version and a "not-so legit" version. Which version should I get: the one that needs to check-in over the internet every 10 days (which as an on-the-road laptop gamer, poses a number of issues for me...) or one that doesn't? Oh and the one that doesn't is also free. Hmmm... I've heard the argument that few people will ever pay for a product they can get or have already gotten for free. If that's true, then think of how many will pay for an INFERIOR VERSION of a product that can be had for free! What exactly are customers getting for their money? Inconvenience and hassle? Gee, who do I make the check out to?

I suspect crippled software is a BIG part of what's killing PC gaming. Actual customers have fewer rights to software that they paid for than software pirates who paid nothing for their copy! I lost a lot of respect for Relic when Company of Heroes added a copy protection system that requires a server login every time the game is launched. No internet, no game : ( I'll end here saying, thank you StarDock. I hope you don't decide to add intrusive copy protection (after it's too late to increase sales anyway) like Relic did.

I know for sure that I will download the pirated version, without the activation crap.

Birger

I very rarely actually laugh when I read something online, but this made me chuckle. It is an apt and depressingly well versed description of the EA customer service policy.


And to Benji, in 10 years Ingsoc, er... EA will hold you ransom by telling your friends, boss, and family what websites you visit, as well as threatening to buy ridiculously expensive cat powered lawnmowers in your name from your credit cards, since it's stolen all that information from it's activation/marketing software that you installed on your computer, that never actually uninstalls, even thought it tells you it does. Just in case you reinstall the game later, or whatever their reason is. 8)


Half-Kidding (sadly only half) aside, vote with your wallets. I've bought every Stardock game since GalCiv Uno, and I bought SoaSE before reading a single review. Yeah, I'm dumb, but for once I didn't regret making a decision like that. I'll continue to buy their products as long as they're decent games and they treat customers like they should be treated. Like people, not profit margins. I haven't bought an EA game in quite awhile, and that trend looks stable.

I don't mind The copy protection, it's the part where EA treats you like you are some kind of evil pirate trying to bring anarchy to the world that I dislike, and that unless they make your life miserable at every turn then you'll end up bringing down EA.

I'm against piracy, it's immoral, socialy damaging and illegal. But it's not theft, it's not stealing. That's a different kind of crime.
Yeah, I'm anal, but I'm a law student and comments like those I just can't leave alone

Anyway this new method sucks, I at least hope this means there won't be CDchecks and that they will release patch that removes the authentication in a year or two so I can be sure I will able to play those games even when EA stops supporting them

Well now they say StarDock is just lucky and that is why they are selling their games. That makes a lot of sense  

My situation;

I have two PCs - one, an outdated desktop that I use for normal use and the internet, and a laptop for gaming and use at school. At home, I have some seriously complicated internet system, and I cannot work out how to connect it to my laptop. Because of that, if I want to use any internet on my laptop, I must use it at school. However, I'm only at school for a week more, then I'm graduating.

Which leaves me without any sort of internet connection for my laptop. Now, as I said, my desktop is old and my laptop is new. If I want to play Spore or Mass Effect (and I really, really do) then I must use my laptop, as only it will be powerful enough for them...but how can I possibly do that when my laptop has no internet connection? EA has screwed me, and any other gamer with limited internet access, over completely.

Why should I pay large amounts of cash for a game I cannot play, when instead I can download the same game for no cost, and be able to play it? Furthermore, even if my situation was different and I did purchase it, why must I and every other legitimate purchaser be subjected to a ridiculous DRM process whose very nature is insulting, when the pirates, the very people who this process aims to combat, will be playing this game without any such restrictions.

So, to sum up; fuck you EA. I would have bought both your games, now you'll get nothing from me.

We must be the luckiest company in the world then, because we've been doing things this way for a very long time.

True True I can’t believe the junk they are trying to say over there to defend that CP they have on their game. I set them as straight as I could on this lucky matter. As lucky does not sell games. A good game with a customer’s first attitude is what sells games. And Star Dock shows that. You are a great company to deal with.